Death Knell for HD-DVD?

WalMart's decision to stop selling Toshiba's HD-DVD format may well be the sounding of the death knell for the technology.

This just goes on to show that there is so much more to making a business success of a technology than the technology itself. When one buys a product, one buys more than just that - one buys the whole constellation of capabilities and services that surround the product. One buys intangibles like service support, available accessories, and reliability. One buys expansion capabilities and potential for future development. And often one buys a product that is recognizable by all.

Network effects (the phenomenon whereby a product or a service becomes more valuable the more people use it - think of mobile phone services and same-network call rates, which encourages friends and associates to stay on the same network) are also often vastly more important than the product itself. Just look at one of the most hotly contested battles in recent times - that of Microsoft Vs Apple. It isn't that Microsoft's products are superior to Apple's. If anything, it is the other way round. Yet Apple has never succeeded in threatening Microsoft to any significant extent.

Sony had learned this the hard way when its Betamax video players lost out to VHS in the late Seventies and early Eighties. Sony missed a trick by sharing some details of the format with Matsushita (Panasonic) and JVC, expecting all other players to accept Betamax as the industry standard 'for the good of all'. However Matsushita and JVC had plans of their own and developed the VHS format (some say with some help from their newly gained knowledge of the Betamax format). This started the format wars.

Though Betamax was arguably the better format (from a purely technological viewpoint), there were other reasons for its demise. The recording duration on Betamax was only 60 minutes, while VHS could record up to 3 hrs on one tape. This meant that initially Betamax could not be used to record movies. Two, Betamax lost out on the rental market - even after recording duration was enhanced, a much larger number of movies were available on VHS than on Betamax. By the time Betamax became aggressive on this front, it was too late to recover. So, VHS offered a greater and cheaper range of hardware, the tapes were cheaper and more easily available, and there were a much larger number of movies to rent. How much of this true and how much urban legend is actually irrelevant.What matters is that what probably killed Betamax were network and external effects.

Now, the situation with Blu-Ray and HD-DVD is not very dissimilar. Blu-Ray has recently gone on to become the preferred format of most major Hollywood studios. And with the largest DVD seller in the world - WalMart - also opting out of HD-DVD, it won't be long before Toshiba and the HD-DVD format concede defeat.



Top

Tata closer to closing the deal?

The FT reported recently that there are signs that the talks for the sale of the Jaguar and Land Rover marques is nearing completion.

Land Rover and Jaguar are believed to have made a joint profit of $1.2bn in 2007, though Jaguar is believed to have made a loss. Incidentally, Ford does not release individual financial results for these brands.

Jaguar's new XF has been well received in the market, prompting thoughts of a change in the company's fortunes (it has been a perennial loss-maker for Ford). The XF is a great-looking car. What Car and Auto Express magazines both give it 5 stars. Check out these pics.



Photos from www.jaguar.co.uk

Surely does float my boat, it does!


Top

GM announces third consecutive year of losses

General Motors today announced its third consecutive year of losses in 2007. Compared to 2006 losses of $2bn, 2007 losses amount to $38.7bn! In the year 2007 there were only 161 companies worldwide with revenues higher than that figure. The entire Tata Group had revenues to the tune of $29bn in 2006-07. Kind of puts things into perspective, doesn't it?

The figure, however, is inflated by a special charge related to the valuation of deferred tax assets and therefore cannot be taken at face value.

The company only expects a real push for earnings in around 2010-2011. Earlier, GM just about pipped Toyota to the post in terms of total number of vehicles sold in the year, maintaining its position as the largest vehicle manufacturer in the world by volumes sold. GM claims to have sold 9.367m cars in 2007. While Toyota first announced sales of 9.37m cars, the figure was later revised to 9.366m. Too close to call, really!


Top

Things you must never do when drunk

Now here's an addition to the list of things you must never do when drunk: never lock your bike to the main door of a bank in such a way that it prevents the door from opening. And if, by any chance you do, be absolutely certain that you don't break or lose your key!

A few days ago as we were walking out of a certain college after an exchange dinner, we stopped at the porter's lodge to ask to be let out (it is secure, so no one but students can get in late in the evening, but it appears that non-students can't leave the college either, unless someone lets them out. But more on that some other time). So, as we found out, we had to wait for more than a few minutes as the porter was busy talking to a young lady, trying to resolve her problem. Her problem? She stood there with a broken key in her hand - the key to her bicycle lock - the lock that she had used to lock her bike with - to the main door of the nearby Barclays branch!



Apparently the girl had wrapped her cable lock along both bar handles of the main door at Barclays and left her bike there. Finally, when she went back to retrieve the bike, the key snapped in the lock. She was now worried that she would not be able to remove her bike that night, and as a consequence the bank would not be able to open shop the next morning - until they went round and got a cable cutter or a locksmith to do the job for them. Just imagine the chaos that would ensue the next morning, with all employees and tens of early morning customers waiting outside for the bank to be able to open its doors for business, because there was a bicycle in the way! (The bank does have a shuttered door, but the shutter only opens from inside, which cannot be got at until the main door is opened).

The porter was trying to do his best to offer possible solutions, which variably were an old wire cutter ("...but the cable lock is this thick...", said with the thumb and forefinger about half an inch apart), and a hammer ("...I don't think the lock is going to break with that!...", notwithstanding the fact that the police would take a dim view of someone trying to break into Barclays with a hammer at midnight). Finally, the solution that was arrived at was a note scrawled on a small piece of paper that began, "Dear Barclays..."

It was time to leave.


Top

Real tennis, anyone?

Okay. So how many people have heard of Real Tennis? I certainly hadn't, until about three months ago. It turns out my mate Seb plays it - and I had the rare opportunity to watch a match played between the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge today. Seb, naturally, was playing.

But what is real tennis?

Well, Real Tennis is the original 'Regal' tennis (Real, as in Real Madrid) from which the modern game of lawn tennis originated. It is also called Court Tennis in the US and Royal Tennis in Australia (for those that may be familiar with these terms).There is some debate about when the sport was first played - different opinions range from the 16th century to the 19th century. It may have evolved from a ball game that was played using a gloved hand from as early as the 12th century. There apparently are only about 35 Real Tennis courts left worldwide!





The sport is played in an asymmetrical court, with sloping roofs, various openings and a buttress, and has a rather intricate point scoring system. Racquets are asymmetrical too, and balls are hand-sewn - often by the players themselves. While in principle it is similar to lawn tennis there are several nuances that are difficult to follow without some understanding of the game. You can read about the sport here and here. The University of Oxford Real Tennis Club is here. I recommend a look - when so few people are even aware of the existence of the sport, having a greater knowledge of it is fantastic.


Top